Improvement in harness-operating mechanisms for looms



JOHN C. DUOKWORTH, OF PITTSFlELD, MASSACHUSETTS,

Letters Patent No. 109,884, dated December 6, 1870.

imenovs'menr in nannies-OPERATING MEcHANlsMsFR Looms.

To' all whomI 'it 'may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN C. DUcKWonTn, of Pittsfield, in the county of Berkshire and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain novel Improvements on the Harness-Motion of Looms for Weaving Fancy Fabrics; and I do hereby declare that the following is agfull, clear, andexact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings making part oi' this specification, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of a portion of a loomframe having applied to it 'iny improved harness-motion. v

' Figure 2 is a top view of the same parts.

lfigure 3 is an end Viewl Figure 4 is an enlarged verticalseetional view of the parts shown in tig. .'lf.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures. n

`The rst part of my invention relates to the heddlelevers` of fancy-looms. In' fancy-looms each lcat'of hedclles is connected with and operated by a separate h eddle-lever or levers, as the case may be, depending V' upon the construction of the loom, some looms having a double series of heddle-levers--one lever of each series for each leaf of heddles-and other looms having but a single series of heddle-levers-one lever Afor each leai'ofheddles. The latter class oflooms, those hav- .ing a single series of upright heddle-levers arranged at the side of the loom, have the advantage of simplicity in' construction; but, on account of the great length of the-levers and the necessity of crowding as many as are required for the purpose of a fancy-loom liuto a space equal to the width 0f the heddles, they are slender andV comparatively frail, especially when made o'fV cast-iron, as is the practice in the construc- `tion of heddle-levers, 'and are, therefore, liable to.

breakage of either or both arms, and, when this occurs in either arm, the entire lever must be replaced by a new one. Moreover, these long slender side levers are ditlicult to cast irre sufficientlyperfect manner, many of them' being lost in the casting by reason oi their being so long and slender. The othcrclass of looms, those having adoiible series of heddle-levers, one lever of each series for each leaf ot' heddles, have the levers of each series arranged horizontally, one se'- n'es above the loom and the other below it, each lever of each series being connected with its respective heddie, and with the corresponding lever of the otherl series, by suit-able connections,in manner well known to loom-builders and manufacturers accustomed to the fancy-loom known as'the Crompton 100m. These looms have the disadvantage of the vibration ot their connections, which renders the operation of the jacks more or less uncertain, besides .throwing the stress of i The Schedule referred to in these Letters Patent and making pax-t of the same.

connected together, except through the leaves of heddles, and being made to move with each other by reason of the short arms or toes abutting each other, the

whole arranged 'substantially as hereinafter described.

By arranging a double series of upright or vertical an guiar levers at the side ot"- the loom upon independent bearin gs and without'long connections, Ihave avoided mauyof the disadvantages of the former mode of using a double series of'heddle-levers in fancy-looms, and have also avoided the principal disadvantages attending the use and construction ofthe long, slender, single series of upright levers. A

vMy invention further consists in an arrangement ot` the pattern-chain, horizontal hooked jacks, and verticalor upright heddle-lcvers, arranged at the side ot' the loom, so as to move toward and froln the loom, and connected with the leaves ot' lxeddles, the gist ot' the arrangement consisting in bringing the patternchain directly in contact with the horizontal hooked jacks on their under edges or sides, cach jack having a ,hook on its upper and a hook ou its lower edge, at one end,- aud at its other end attached to the he'ddlef lever, or to a projection thereof, so as to lift the jacks, or allow thcm to be depressed, byreason of the protuberances and depressions of the pattern-chain, without intervention ol' hinged toes, as formerly practiced. My invention further consists in an arrangement of the pattern-chain relatively to the reciprocating Iknives,

(sometimes called lifters and depress'ers,) the horizontal hooked jacks hinged at one end to vertical or upright heddle-levers arranged at the side of the loom, so as to move toward and from the loom, and connected 'iill l'l leaves of heddles and said upright heddle-levers, each jack at its other-end having a hook on its upper and a hook on its lower edge, and the gist o t the arrangement being that the patterulchain is placed directly in Contact with the lower side ol' the jacks, and between the point where thc jacks are hinged to the side levers, or to' a projection therefrom, and the hooks upon the jacks, which engage iwith the reciprocating knives, whereby the jacks are elevatcdor depressed,'to engage with the knives, by a comparatively vslight movement ofthe pattern-chain, by reason of the hooks on the jacks being at a greater distance than the pattern-chain from the joint or point oi attachment of the jacks to the side lever.

My invention further consists in an arrangement of pattern-chain, horizontal hooked jacks, and upright.

lieddle-levers, the gist of the arrangement consisting in the heddle-levers being arranged at the side of the loom, so as to move toward and from the loom, the jacks beingr hinged at one end to the hctldle-levers above their i'ulcruins, and at its other having a hook on its upper and a hook on its lower edge, and arranged horizontally outside of the heddle-levers, the pattern-chain being placed directly in contact with the lower side of the jack, opatside of the heddle-levers, and the drum which carries the pattern-chain being located beneath the jacks and above. the fnlcrums ot' the heddle-levers, whereby convenient access to the jacks and pattern-mechanism is obtained, and also room for a considerable length of chain to bc suspended vertically from the drum without obstruction, and, at the saine time, the pattern-chain acts directly upon the jacks.

.But, in order to more particularly describe my invention, I will refer to the drawings, which illustrate the construction and operation of the double series of levers, and the arrangement of the jacks, reciprocating knives, and pattern mechanism.

lo avoid confusion, the drawings only show two' levers of cach series of upright heddle-levers, with their jacks andy other accompanying mechanism, it being understood that as many levers of each series are to be used as there are leaves of heddles in the loom. 'l l Letter A represents a portion of the main side frame of the loom. *t

Letter B represents a portion of the main drivingshai't, which gives motion to the lay and other parts of the loom, and carries a. disk, B', ou the end, to which is attached a crank-pin, which operates a rockshaft, D, through a pitman, a, anda rocking-arm, a', fast to the rock-shaft D, to give motion to the reciprocating knives k and g', whichmove in opposite directions, the knife 7c being connected with a reciproeating frame, E, and the knife g being connected with the reciprocating fraaie F, both frames being moved horizontally and in opposite directions by the arms b and b', fast to the horizontal rock-shaft D.

. The additional side frame O, attached to and projecting from the side of the loom, supports two fixed horizontal shafts, p p, which are placed, one above the other, near together, andv parallel with each other and with the side of the loom.

These two shafts form the bearings or fulcrums of the double series of vertical or upright angular heddlelevers, the upper series G G being pivoted upon tbc upper shaft p, and the lower series G G' being pivoted upon the lower shaft p.

vThe levers of cach series vibrate freely upon their bearings, and are kept in place by collars p on the shafts p, thc outside collars being secured to the shaft byscrews 1'.

The upright arms of the upper series of heddlelevers G G are connected, each with its leaf of heddles, by a cord rnnnin'ghorizontally, or nearly so, to a pulley over the leaf of hcddles, thence vertically to the leaf of heddles, as is usual in looms which have upright side-heddle levers moving toward and from the loom. The lower series of heddle-levcrs are shown broken od' in the drawings, but are to be connected at the ends of their vertical arms with their respective leaves of hcddles, in the same manner as the upper series of heddle-level's. There being an equal number of heddle-levers in each series, and as many heddie-levcrs in each series as there are leaves of heddles,

each leaf of heddlcs is connected above with one ol" ries of heddle-levers. And there being uo link'or connection between the two series ofi heddle-levers,

whenever alevcr of the upper series is moved outward from the loom to lift a leaf of heddles, one of the lower series moves toward thc loom by gravity', or by the pull of the connecting col'd from below the leaf'of heddles to the lower end of its vertical arm, thus; voiding danger ot' breakage ot' the`lower series of levers by obstructions, when moving toward the loom, the strain at that time bearing upon the .harness-cords, instead of upon the lever, as would be the case if it weren.4 part of a single long uprightlever, pivotedin the middie.

When the upper series of levers are moved toward thc loom, for the purpose of depressing the heddles, the lower series ot' levers are forced to move away from the loom by reason of the action of their angular toes O O of both series of levers upon each other.

The acting surface of the opposite toes are grooved and rounded to iit each other, as shown in the drawings, for the purpose of guides, to keep the levers more accurately in their planes of motion than would be the case if the toes had plane surfaces.

The lower series of levers, G', are arranged to hook for convenience in removal.

The upper series of hcddle-lcvcrs, G, are bent, as shown in the. drawings, and provided with a projecting tenon, to which the horizontal jacks H are jointed, cither by a mortise, as shown in the drawings, or in any convenient manner,

The object ofjointing the jacks to a projection from the heddle-levers is to preserve the strength of the hedd-l'e-levers, which would bc very much impaired by making the `ioint in 'thedrnm of the heddle-lever..

The horizontal jacks H'are each provided with a hook upon their upper edges, and a hook upon their lower edg'cs, as shown in the drawings, which engage with the knives K and g', for the purpose-of moving the heddles. These knives, being4 attached to reciprocating frames, as before described, vreciprocate in opposite directions, inrecesses in the guides C', attached t'o the framing C, the upperknife and its frame being free to lift up, and thus avoid breakage in case of obstructions.

the cross-bar g, on the reciprocating trame F, act as eveners, to restore the hcddle-levcrs to their normal positions.

The jacks H are held in place, laterally, by means of vertical pins s s, which arc secured to a horizontal plate, S', attached to the frame O, and they are raised andvdepressed at theI proper time to`bc acted upon by the reciprocating knives, by means ofthe pattern-chain f, which is carried by achain-druin, constructed in the usual manner, secured to the horizontal shaft S.

The pattern-chain is moved, link by link, at each beat of the lay, by means of a pawl, h, connected with the reciprocating frame E, which acts upon a ratchet-wheel, c, attached to the shaft of the chain-drum.

'The pattern-chain is.of -the ordinary construction used in fancy looms, and does 'not need further description. e

It will be observed that the pattern-chain acts di rectly upon the jacks without intermediate toes, and that, by reason of its being placed between the hooks 0f the jlCkS and the point of attachment of the jacks to the levers, the jacks are moved sufficiently to cngage and disengage. their hooks with the reciprocating knives, by means of comparatively small rollers upon the chain. It will also be observed that those parts of myinvention abovereferred to after the statement of the first part of'my invention, which relate to the arrangement of the pattern-mechanism, jacks,

on the shafts p, in the manuel' shown in the drawings,

the upper series, and below with one of the lower se- .The cross-rod'd, on the reciprocating frame E, and

and reciprocating knives, with arranged in two series, but is equally applicable to a single series of' long upright heddle-levers, pivoted in the middle at the side ot the loom, and moving toward and front/the loom; the jacks, `reciprocating knives, and pattern mechanism being arranged in the same manner with relation to the upper arms of such long upright heddle-levers, as they are with respect to the vertical arms of the upper series of angular heddle-levers herein shown and described.

Claim.

1. The arrangement, in combination with the leaves of heddles, of a double series f vertical angular heddle-ievers, placed at the sidc ofthe loom on bearings which are parallel to cach otherand to the side ofthe loom, and moving toward and from the side of thc loom, the vertical arm ot' each lever of each series of heddle-levers being connected with a lea-f of heddles, and the horizontal arms o1" toes ot` such lever of each. series acting upon the corresponding horizontal arms or toes of the opposite series, substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore described.

2. The arrangement of the pattern-chain, horizontal hooked jacks, and vertical or upright heddlc-levers, pivoted at the side of the loom, so as to move toward and from the loom, and connected with the leaves of heddles, substantially as described, the gist of the arrangement consisting in bringing the pattern-chain directly in contact with the horizontal hooked jacks in said combination beneaththe same, eachy jack having lever, or to a projection thereof, so as to lift the jacks or allow them to be depressed by. the action of the the vertical heddlelevers, do. not depend upon having the beddle-levers to the reciprocating knives, or lifters and depressers, the horizontal hooked jacks, hinged at'one end to ver` tical or upright heddle-levers, each jack at its other end having a. hook on its upper and a hook ou its lower edge, such heddle -levers arranged at the side 0i' the loom, so as to move toward and'f'rom the loom, and connected with the leaves of heddles, and said npright hcddle-levers, the gist of' the arrangement being that the pattern-chain is placed directly in contact with the lower side of the jacks, and between the hooks of jacks, which engage with the reciprocating knives and the point where the jacks are hinged to the side levers, or a projection therefrom, whereby the jacks are elevated or depressed to engage with the' knives, by comparatively small rings or protuberanoes upon the pattern-chain.

4. The arrangement of pattern mechanism, horizontal hooked` jacks, and upright heddle-levers, the gist of the arrangement consistinT in such heddle-levers being arranged at the sidc of the loom, so as to move toward and from the loom, the jacks being hinged to snob hcddle-levers above their fnlcrums, and arranged horizontally outside of suoli heddle-levers perpendicularly to the side ofthe loom, or nearly so, eachjack at rectly in contact with thc lower side of the jacks, and outside of such heddle-levers, and the drum which carries the pattern-chain being located beneath the jacks and above the fulcrnms ofsuch heddlelevers,where by convenient access to the jacks and pattern-mechanism is obtained, and also room for a considerable lengt-h of pattern-chain to be suspended vertically from the drum, without obstruction, and, at the same time, direct action of the pattern-chain upon the jacks is secured, substantially frsdescribed.

JOHN o. DUoKWoarn.' Witnesses:

Ones. N. EMERsoN, O. W. VAN DEMARK. 

